How Signal-Based Routing Actually Works (and the 3 Times It Broke)

You Shouldn't Have to Tell the AI Who to Be Last week I wrote about typing "act as a senior architect" 47 times per week. The friction of manually assigning roles to an AI that should be able to figure it out. This week I want to go deeper. Not the pitch -- the plumbing. How does signal-based routing actually work inside PRISM Forge ? What does the routing engine look at? How does it decide? And -- because build-in-public means showing the dents -- the 3 times it broke in ways I didn't expect. The Core Idea: Intent Detection, Not Commands Most persona systems work like menus. Pick a role from a list. Type a command. Toggle a mode. Signal-based routing works differently. You talk naturally. The system listens for signals in your language and assembles the right team. "I'm stuck on this auth bug" contains two signals: stuck (creative problem-solving) and bug (debugging/validation). The routing engine reads both, decides who leads, and who supports. No slash commands. No mode toggles. No